Zoosk – The smart online dating app

Zoosk – The dating app with behavioral matchmaking in a detailed test

[Rating:80/100]

Zoosk is a modern, mobile-friendly dating app where countless singles can communicate with each other, get to know new people and start flirting easily.

Thanks to strong growth, Zoosk now has an incredibly large dating community of around 50 million registered profiles worldwide. It can be assumed that around 750,000 members come from Germany.

What should be mentioned positively is the fact that “file corpses” are sorted out after 6 months. This saves you the hassle of writing to many members and waiting in vain for a response because they are no longer active in the community.

The application integrates well with popular social networks such as Facebook. Over 12 million Facebook and Twitter users are now fans of the singles community.

Zoosk's headquarters are in San Francisco, California.

What is Zoosk about?

Zoosk set itself the goal early on of recognizing modern trends such as the emergence of social networks and the mobile revolution in internet use and integrating them into its dating app as best as possible.

The US-based online dating company provides an intuitive and easy-to-use user interface to ensure uncomplicated contact, exciting flirts and a personalized partner search.

Zoosk offers several creative options for contacting other members: for example, you can play the carousel game, write to members directly, “wink” at them or send them a small virtual gift.

When it comes to member profiles, the focus is clearly on the profile photos. Further information about the person is given in bullet points, and on most profiles there is also a – usually short – “About me” section.

What sets Zoosk apart?

An absolutely unique selling point is the self-developed Behavioral Matchmaking™ technology (Smart Date) , which enables users to receive partner suggestions tailored to their individual needs, which are also calculated in real time.

With more than 27 million members, Zoosk is the market leader in the mobile dating sector and the most downloaded app of its kind in the Apple App Store. It is available in over 80 countries and has been translated into 25 languages.

The membership structure is relatively young, internet-savvy and mainly between 18 and 35 years old. In addition to smartphones and tablets, the dating app can also be used at home on the desktop computer.

A nice feature that can also be used for free is the carousel game . You can display other singles in a rotation and have the choice of ticking “Yes”, “No”, or “Maybe”. If you like each other, you can start flirting straight away.

For mobile-active singles, it is also interesting to install Zoosk Messenger for text and video chats, download the dating application to the iPhone or add it to Facebook, MySpace or Bebo. This also makes the connection to these communities at least one level more attractive. You can also use your calendar on Facebook to match your dating appointments on Zoosk.

Privacy and security

Zoosk's security guarantee regarding its members' data is not based on EU legislation and certainly not on the Federal Data Protection Act. Anyone who submits information to Zoosk agrees that their data can be collected and processed in the USA. This includes name, birthday, photographs, email address, telephone numbers and credit card numbers as well as the contacts that a member has. Singles can be identified based on their personal data, which would not be permitted under German data protection law.

It remains unclear to us whether your data is safe at Zoosk.

Free Services (Basic Membership):

• Registration
• Create a profile with a photo
• Search function & view profiles
• “Wink” (form of contact)
• Friends list
• “Who is online” function
• Carousel game

Premium members have unlimited access (in addition to basic features):

• Read messages from other members
• Write messages
• highlight your own profile in the search results
• Use the Smart Date function

TOP:

• intuitive and easy to use
• quick and easy profile creation
• Profile photo can still be edited online
• easy verification of the profile photo via mobile phone
• modern flirt app for singles between 18 and 35 years old
• SmartDate feature learns from user behavior
• beautiful and fast apps for mobile devices (consistent mobile orientation)
• many creative ways to make initial contact
• Free text and video chat with Zoosk Messenger
• Flirt across borders with 50 million members worldwide
• Carousel game allows you to get to know each other in a playful way and is fun
• Great guide to safe online dating
• Extensive FAQ section

FLOP:

• A somewhat complicated way to delete the Zoosk profile (via contact form with an explicit request for deletion)
• Every now and then there are black sheep among the members who attempt fraud and ask for money under the pretext of alleged strokes of fate
• Singles and people over 35 years old who want to flirt are underrepresented
• Profiles are less meaningful than on classic dating sites, the focus is on looks, which means that some of the acquaintances through Zoosk are superficial or rather fleeting
• Membership is automatically renewed
• no German data protection standards, data security remains unclear, by linking to social networks, data can be merged or enriched in an undesired form

Costs & Prices: (As of: Jan 2015)

Premium Membership:

• 1 month of premium participation: €29.99
• 3 months premium participation: €62.97 (€20.99 per month)
• 6 months premium participation: €89.94 (€14.99 per month)

Payment options:

• Credit card (MasterCard, VISA)
• Bank debit
• Paypal
• GiroPay
• Instant bank transfer

Contract and termination:

With the free basic membership, the user is entitled to unsubscribe at any time without giving reasons. Unfortunately there is no easy button for this. Therefore, you should go to the “Contact” menu item in the footer of the website and send a message directly to customer service requesting that the user account be deleted.

The paid memberships are automatically extended for the selected period unless you cancel within the term. You can change or cancel your current subscription by going to the Settings page within your profile, clicking Subscription and following the instructions.

However, the term is always exhausted, meaning no remaining credit can be reclaimed.

Conclusion

Zoosk is a very successful and attractively designed flirt community with a consistent mobile orientation. The apps for mobile devices are clear, intuitive to use and load very quickly. So you can easily flirt on the go.

Younger and internet-savvy singles in particular are enthusiastic about the platform. Creative flirting functions, a self-learning system, uncomplicated getting to know each other and a beautiful design ensure an untroubled flirting experience. However, the focus is on non-binding flirts, which can make the serious search for a partner a little more difficult. This circumstance is probably also due to the young membership structure.

The free basic membership is enough to get an initial overview, but you can't avoid a paid subscription to use it effectively. In terms of price, these are in the middle range and tend to be cheaper than classic dating sites and dating sites.

Due to the unclear storage and use of private data as well as the repeatedly mentioned attempts at romance scamming by members (dubious and fraudulent exploitation of feelings to ask for money), a little caution is advised. Trust your common sense here and if you have any ambiguities or doubts, please contact Zoosk customer service.